POWER MAN AND IRON FIST #125 (1986): Series ends

This final issue starts fun.

But gets terribly violent.

Bobby “Captain Hero” Wright is hospitalized and dying of cancer.  Iron Fist figures out how to use his chi to slow the illness, but the effort puts him into a coma.  When Bobby wakes up and activates his Captain Hero persona, unaware of what Danny Rand did to save him, he tries to shake Iron Fist awake—but he’s in a chi coma.  Due to his childlike immaturity and high level of emotional volatility, he keeps pounding on Iron Fist to wake him up and, unintentionally, kills him.

This is a pretty unusual kind of death, and certainly one that came out of left field.  Nothing about K’un Lun, no dying for honor, just reckless negligence.

Here’s the funeral:

Then, the authorities mistakenly believe Luke Cage is responsible for the death.  Because they always blame the black man, amiright?

Interesting “full circle” path for Luke, who started this book in “Luke Cage Hero for Hire #1” as a wrongfully accused ex-con trying to clear his name, and ends it in the same place.

And he gave the characters the send off they deserved, along with this touching final page….

This is the best script of Jim Owsley’s wonderful career.

POST SCRIPT: In a retcon, John Byrne revived Iron Fist by saying the dead Fist was a doppleganger created by a demon, just as Bobby was really Super Skrull but thought he was Captain Hero.

It’s not the worst retcon ever.